Dollar declines as better data buoys greenback
Better than expected data lifts US dollar.
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Hawke’s Bay
The New Zealand dollar fell as better than expected US durable goods data supported the greenback and commodity currencies weakened.
The kiwi dropped to 64.30USc at 8am in Wellington, from 64.93c at 5pm yesterday. The trade-weighted index declined to 69.61 from 70.12 yesterday.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, climbed after US durable goods orders were stronger than expected in July, up 2% from the previous month compared with expectations for a 0.4% decline, suggesting US business investment is continuing to improve in the third quarter.
The Bloomberg Commodity Index of 22 raw materials slid to a fresh multi-year low, weighing on commodity-linked currencies such as the Norwegian krone, and the Canadian, Aussie and kiwi dollars.
The New Zealand dollar "fell overnight as the US durable goods data came in significantly better than expectations," ANZ Bank New Zealand senior economist Sharon Zollner and senior FX strategist Sam Tuck say in a note. "We expect the US dollar to remain in demand."
US second-quarter GDP data due out tonight is expected to be revised higher, to an annual 3.2% rate from a previous estimate of 2.3%.
ANZ expects the kiwi to trade between 63.30USc and 65c today.
The New Zealand dollar slipped to 90.32Ac from 91.03c yesterday ahead of Australian second-quarter capital expenditure data today.
The local currency slipped to 56.72 euro cents from 56.49 cents yesterday, advanced to 41.55 British pence from 41.35 pence, weakened to 77.08 yen from 77.63 yen and dropped to 4.1213 yuan from 4.1627 yuan.
(BusinessDesk)
Tina Morrison
Thu, 27 Aug 2015
Thu, 27 Aug 2015
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Dollar declines as better data buoys greenback
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